Mathematician Anand Kumar today urged the union government to give six chances in joint entrance examination for IITs as it is in the case of civil services examination.

This would provide a level-playing field for candidates appearing for the IIT entrance examinations, he said in a letter to Union HRD minister Smriti Irani.

"Students from rural areas don't get the advantage of quality schooling and often start their preparations late, which works to their disadvantage," Kumar, whose pioneering Super 30 school grooms talented students from underprivileged sections for IITs, said.

"More opportunities will help reduce the urban-rural divide so that bright students from rural areas could come forward and lend their hands in the nation’s progress," he said.

"I had requested both former HRD minister Kapil Sibal and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to give more opportunities to students from rural background, but things did not work. I hope the new government will seriously think in this direction and do it for the sake of younger generation," he added.

Kumar's Super 30 provides free education besides food and accommodation for poor students to prepare them for IIT entrance examinations.

A total of 28 out of 30 students had made it to different IITs from the Super 30 last year.